10 Careers in Advertising
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What is a career in advertising?
A career in advertising includes a variety of professions that collectively aim to develop public interest in a product, brand, initiative or organization and build stronger relationships between a company and its customer base. Professionals in this field often work in cross-functional teams to plan, strategize and execute written and visual communication and campaigns across various media, including television, radio, billboard, websites and social media.
Related: Advertising vs. Sales: What’s the Difference?
What you can expect from a career in advertising
Advertising careers are fast-faced and highly creative. Regardless of your specific job title, advertising typically revolves around researching, planning and creating advertisements or marketing campaigns. Working under tight deadlines is common for most professions in this field. Today, specialized advertising, such as digital or online advertising is becoming more common.
Related: 8 Types of Digital Advertising: Definitions and Benefits
Skills needed for careers in advertising
Careers in advertising often require creative, technical and interpersonal skills to effectively research, strategize, plan and execute campaigns and other business-generating initiatives. Here are core skills needed across various advertising careers:
Written and verbal communication
Strong written and verbal communication is the core of advertising and is critical for nearly every job in this field. You’re often receiving detailed direction from a company about the goals and specifications of a project. Clear communication is necessary to accurately execute an idea or concept. Careers in advertising are highly collaborative and being able to clearly communicate within and across teams can enhance creativity and streamline processes.
Creativity
Most careers in advertising require individuals to exhibit a certain level of creativity. Many professionals in this field take abstract ideas and transform them into compelling content and products. Professionals working in advertising need a creative mindset to continuously develop new marketing strategies, conceptualize campaigns and produce exciting written and visual content.
Time management and organization
Advertising is a fast-paced and deadline-driven industry. Depending on your job, you may work on multiple projects at once with time-sensitive deadlines. Managing your time effectively is critical in ensuring that you meet deadlines in a timely manner and stay within a project’s allotted budget.
Analytical skills
Understanding how to analyze and interpret data is a critical part of advertising because it often guides decision making and strategy. For example, web analytics provides an abundance of data about a target audience, so it’s important to recognize what information is most relevant to a company’s business objectives and effectively extract actionable insights to guide decision making.
Proficient digital skills
The level of technical skills you’ll need vary from job to job. Today, many employers seek prospective employees with basic HTML and coding skills and an understanding of search engine optimization. Proficiency using content management systems is also desirable because it’s widely used across the industry to collaborate with other creatives, store web content and manage projects. There are courses available that can take and free online resources you can use to help you develop these skills.
10 careers in advertising
There are several career paths to pursue in advertising. Some jobs focus more on the creative aspects of advertising, while others revolve around the managerial components needed in advertising. There are also several technical professions within the field. These careers collectively work together to address different parts and combinations of the communications process involved in advertising. Here are 10 careers you can pursue in advertising:
1. Social media coordinator
National average salary: $16.06 per hour
Primary duties: Social media coordinators manage a brand’s communication across social media platforms and implement a strategy for their online presence. They plan, create and post written and visual content that captures the tone of a brand and appeals to their target audience. Social media coordinators often plan posts in advance to maintain a consistent posting schedule and follower engagement. It’s critical that they stay up to date on emerging trends in order to capitalize on them.
2. Event planner
National average salary: $17.40 per hour
Primary duties: Many companies hire event planners to promote their brand, products or services through in-person and online events. Event planners oversee every step involved in producing events from conception through completion. They meet with clients to identify needs, scout locations, manage vendor relationships and client communications, negotiate contracts and manage budgets. Event planners ensure customer and attendee satisfaction. Deliver results within strict deadlines.
3. Graphic designer
Average national salary: $17.65 per hour
Primary duties: Graphic designers play a critical role in helping businesses meet their marketing and advertising objectives and creating the visual components of advertising. They create designs, logos and other visual concepts to communicate tone and key messaging to a company’s target audience. Graphic designers need to be highly skilled using photo editing software, layout software and digital illustration to create graphic designs.
Read more: How To Pursue a Career as a Graphic Designer
4. Web designer
National average salary: $23.52 per hour
Primary duties: Web designer plan, code and create websites and web pages. They must have a clear understanding of the principle of design in addition to the user experience in order to build websites that are user friendly and that adhere to any design standards and specifications determined by the company. Web designers play a key role in branding, increasing web traffic and driving customer acquisition. They also maintain and make ongoing improvements to websites.
Read more: Is Web Designer the Right Career for You? Web Designer Salary and Functions
5. Marketing coordinator
National average salary: $44,878 per year
Primary duties: Marketing coordinators support all activities implemented by a company’s marketing department. They develop plans and strategies based on a company’s objectives and collaborate across multiple teams and departments to oversee campaigns, product launches, events and partnerships. Marketing coordinators need to stay up to date with industry and marketing trends, draft reports, create and coordinate content, track campaign results and build strategic business relationships.
6. Market researcher
National average salary: $57,006 per year
Primary duties: Market research analysts play a critical role in helping companies determine their target audience, how to sell their products and services and key market trends to capitalize on. They develop various methodologies to gather data on consumers, competitors and trends to guide a company’s marketing strategy. Market research analysts use data-driven insights to help identify future opportunities.
7. Copywriter
National average: $60,580 per year
Primary duties: Advertising agencies often hire copywriters to create written content to promote and sell various goods and services. Copywriting can include short- and long format pieces, such as promotional emails, product descriptions and slogans. Copywriters often have to interpret the ideas of their client and turn them into a catchy and persuasive copy that meets expectations in terms of tone and messaging. It’s becoming more common for copywriters to produce content for a company’s social media platforms and other digital channels, including websites and blogs.
Read more: How To Become a Copywriter Step-by-Step
8. Account executive
National average salary: $66,562 per year
Primary duties: The role of advertising account executive encompasses a combination of business development and customer relationships management. They serve as a liaison between the client and creative team at an advertising agency and are responsible for relaying critical information about budgets, target audience and market competition to the appropriate teams and providing accurate interpretations of a client’s goals and objectives.
9. Production manager
National average salary: $67,318 per year
Primary duties: An advertising production manager oversees multiple tasks and creative teams involved in the production of advertising campaigns and other media. Core responsibilities include scheduling, producing and delivering all work created by marketing and advertising teams within tight deadlines. They’re also responsible for networking with vendors who supply work on a freelance or contract basis. Production managers cost-effective campaigns.
10. Creative director
National average salary: $99,147 per year
Primary duties: Creative directors typically work to develop the identity of a brand through various creative directives. They’re responsible for creating, planning and delivering content to their clients. Creative directors collaborate with designers, copywriters and other marketing teams to produce creative content for a company’s marketing initiatives.
By Indeed Editorial Team
